Sant’Ireneo a Centocelle
'''Sant’Ireneo a Centocelle '''is a mid 20th century parish and titular church at Via dei Castani 291, in the northern part of the suburb of Centocelle in the Prenestino-Centocelle quarter. Pictures of the church at Wikimedia Commons are here. The dedication is to St Irenaeus of Lyons. History The parish was established in 1954, and the church erected immediately to a design by Giorgio Guidi. It is rather uninteresting, and the suburb is hideous. The church was made titular in 2015, the first cardinal priest being Charles Maung Bo. Exterior The church demonstrates a derivative Modernist interpretation of the neo-Romanesque style. The plan is a simple rectangle, with no apse. The roof is pitched and tiled, but visible supporting concrete beams run from a large beam on the ridgeline down to the gutters. The exterior walls are in pink brick, and have a strip of windows running under the rooflines on either side. The altar wall has two windows running up the corners. The façade is in plain pink brick, with a protruding gable roofline. This joins with a horizontal string course at the level of the side gutters hence, creating a triangular pseudo-pediment. A second, similar string course runs across the façade just above the single entrance portal, which has a little flat floating canopy. The façade has three large vertical rectangular strip windows. Two are just inside the corners, and run from the ground to the gable while being crossed by the lower string course. The central one is wider, and runs from the lower string course above the canopy to the upper string course. These windows have mullions which form rows of zig-zags. The central window is matched by a white panel in the "pediment" above it. There is no campanile, but the bells are hung in an open metal cage on the roof of the parish accommodation to the left of the church. Interior The interior has a central nave with aisles, the latter being delineated by two rows of reinforced concrete pillars holding up transverse roofbeams which are made of one piece with them. Pillars and beams are in dark grey, but the walls and ceiling are in white except behind the altar where the wall is cream flanked by two zones in puce. The glass in the windows is clear. The large octagonal font, and a painting featuring St Irenaeus by Mario Barberis (1955), are of interest. A concrete screen forming a curved apse has been erected, and these are in the process of being decorated with a series of icons in the traditional Byzantine style, rather reminiscent of El Greco. Liturgy Mass is celebrated, according to the Diocese (May 2018): Daily 8:00, 10:00, 18:00; Sundays and Solemnities additionally at 11:30. From July to September the evening Mass is at 18:30. The parish practices Perpetual Adoration -see its website for details. External links Official diocesan web-page Italian Wikipedia page Parish website Info.roma web-page Roman Despatches - blog with exterior photos Category:Catholic churches Category:Outside the walls - South-East Category:Dedications to St Irenaeus Category:Parish churches Category:20th century Category:Titular churches